Dark skies return to BCL Mine

News that BCL Mine workers will get their October salaries later than usual the second such time this year is only the latest sign that the glory days at the copper and nickel operation are on hold, at least for now. Staff Writers, MBONGENI MGUNI and ONALENNA MODIKWA KELEBEILE uncover the latest troubles at Botswanas oldest mine.

Seven years ago, BCL Mine executives gathered in Gaborone and handed government a cheque for approximately P30 million, being the first dividend paid after years of financial stress caused mainly by poor global base metal prices.

Montwedi Mphathi, the then general manager, could afford a smile on that occasion, having steered the mine through a trying period of operational losses, during which he became every unionist’s number one enemy.

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Govt must crack whip on Cross border crime

“Betrayal hurts, but knowingwho was betraying hurts even more.”- Garima SoniWhat the men of Ditlharapa, Molete and neighbouring villages uncovered is a cross-border enterprise. The modus operandi, as the suspect himself reportedly confessed, is industrial: groups operating in multiple villages, fences cut with impunity, stolen goats walked into South Africa, warehoused at Makhubung, then sold in batches of 200 to a commercial farmer in...

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